


Home

by spaceacealyx



Series: Superhero Universe [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Found Family, Homelessness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27985047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceacealyx/pseuds/spaceacealyx
Summary: drabbles from the found family in the superhero universe
Series: Superhero Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1723945
Kudos: 1





	1. Runaways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hoorayy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoorayy/gifts).



> Edmund belongs to @hoorayy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade reflects on her new unofficial brother.

Jade runs her fingers through Edmunds hair. The poor kid is probably freezing... she tucks him tighter under her arm and pulls her knees to her chest. She sighs and she feels him cuddle closer in his sleep. A small smile tugs at her lips and she leans her head against his for a moment. She stares out into space in front of herself, slipping into her own head.

How had she gotten here? When she had first run away from her fathers house she had been small and scared and alone. She had known what starvation felt like but never as bad as the first few months of living in the streets. She had begged and cried. She had sat, cold and alone, in dark alleyways and abandoned buildings. She spent countless nights wondering if it had been worth it. _’Of course it was worth it. You’re not alone with_ **him** _anymore.’_

Her throat tightens when she thinks about the fact that she probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer out here if not for... Edmund. She glances at his sleeping face and warmth blooms in her chest. She found him, scrawny and scared, just as she had been. Her heart aches for him and she decided he wouldn’t have to suffer like she had. She’d teach him enough to survive and let him loose.

Only... she couldn’t. The thought of parting with him now almost physically hurt. Small little Edmund had saved her, whether he knew it or not. She had no where to go, no goal to accomplish other than _survive_. Now... Now it was so different. She didn’t live because she didn’t have anything else to do, she lived _for him_.

Jade has started to notice the nervousness creep up her throat when Ed isn’t right by her side. She definitely couldn’t ignore the panic that set in when she realized the poor thing had caught a cold. _’God what if he can’t handle it? What if his fever gets too high? What am I gonna do if he doesn’t-‘_ She refused to finish the thought and set out to get him medicine.

She still remembers how she left him. Completely bundled up in their warmest blankets or jackets. She knelt down in front of him and cupped his cheeks with her hands and made him look her in the eye. “I’ll be right back, okay Eddie? Just stay put.” He nodded weakly at her and she felt an overbearing urge to comfort him somehow, so she did the first thing that came to mind. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead for a brief moment before pulling back and heading out.

There had never been anyone she had ever been so comfortable with, no one she had ever hugged willingly. But with Ed it felt easy and... right. Comforting. Warm.

Jade doesn’t even realize that she soaks in his warmth when he sleeps slumped against her. She couldn’t imagine ever going back to how her life was before or leaving him. As she twirls her knife around in her hand, she silently vows to protect him, no matter what happens.


	2. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade has been looking for Edmund ever since his sister took him back to their awful parents.

Jade slumps down into her desk chair in her room and sighs heavily. She’s not getting any closer to finding where they took Ed and it’s been weeks. There’s nothing. No traces, no clues, no hints. His trail is cold and the feeling that sets inside of her is even colder.

She drags her hand down her face in frustration. How could she have let this happen? She was supposed to be there for him, protect him. She couldn’t even do that. What good was she if she couldn’t do the one thing she had promised she would?

“Stop it,” she hisses at herself. She doesn’t need to dwell on it, she needs to find something.

She pushes her hair back out of her face and rubs her forehead. Her head feels like it’s filled with cotton, but she can’t rest until she knows something. She shuffles through the papers on her desk. The words all seem like they run together so she throws them down. Half of them fly off her table and anger bubbles in her chest. “Fuck,” she growls. She throws her chair back which falls over from the force of it and she feels like either screaming or tearing her hair out.

Jade angrily sits the chair upright and picks each paper up one by one.

_Flip, flap. Flip, flap. Flip, flap._

She slaps them down onto the desk and it’s only then does she notice the cold, untouched plate of food. When did that get there? She furrows her eyebrows and picks the fork up to push the food around. Then she sees the sticky note just beside the plate that reads, “I made dinner. Please try to eat something. -Jay”

She sighs and pushes the food aside. She isn’t hungry now and even if she was, it looks like it’s been there for a while. How hadn’t she noticed it? And how had Jay gotten in?

Jade had locked her door after Jay came in to bother her about whatever she could think of. To be fair, Jade had snapped at her rather unnecessarily, but she doesn’t need to be distracted right now.

She shakes her head to clear the thoughts and picks up her phone from the desk, crawling onto her bed to scroll through her past messages with Edmund. Maybe she missed something the last dozen times she checked.

She scrolls past the messages she’s sent to look at Ed’s from what feels like a lifetime ago. She combs through them until she gives herself a headache. Still nowhere. Still nothing. She turns the phone off and throws it aside, closing her eyes and covering them with her hands.

Maybe if… What if Sophie had mentioned something? Anything she said could be a clue.

Jade sits up with her knees pulled to her chest and she thinks back to the fight they’d had. Jade had the upper hand for the beginning part of it. Using stealth during a fight was something she was good at. Keep them on their toes, never let them get a hit in.

Unfortunately for her, her fuse was always just a tad too short. _“_

 _You think you’re so big and bad. You can’t protect him forever.”_ _“It’s cute really. You think you’re inseparable.”_

_“You’ll never be his real family.”_

Jade had lost her temper and her head.

“If I hadn’t been such a _dumbass_ and rushed Sophie like that, _none_ of this would’ve happened and Eddie would still be safe and I-” her voice breaks and a sob escapes her. All of the anger and regret she had been keeping inside of her for the past month boils over and there’s little she can do to stop it.

“God, Eddie… I’m so sorry… She was right, she was right, and I couldn’t do it and now you’re god knows where… And they’re doing god knows what to you and it’s all my fault.”

Her hands tear at her hair as tears roll down her face. “It’s all my fault, all my fault.”

She lets out another sob and her chest tightens. How pathetic. She’s here, sitting in her comfy bed, crying, when Edmund is somewhere with his awful family and probably hurting. She just wanted poor little Ed back so she could hug him as tight as possible and tell him it’s okay. But it isn’t. Because he’s not here and…

It’s not okay.


	3. Family Again

JJ puts her hand over his mouth lightly and closes her eyes, her eyebrows knitting together. “ _Don’t,_ ” she breathes. There’s a long pause between her next words. “I don’t... I don’t need that bullshit.” Her hand drops down and she leans forward to press their foreheads together.

“I swore Ed. Remember that? I _swore_ I would protect you. We promised we’d always have each other and I failed you. I let you fall right back into your family’s hands and-...” her voice cracks slightly. Her eyes squeeze tighter and her lips purse. Her voice is bubbling with barely contained anger, “I won’t let it happen again. I will not.”

Her posture droops again and she softly cups his face. “I don’t care what you think about what happened with your sister and me. What matters is that we’re together again.” She opens her eyes again, looking him directly in the eye. “We can be a family again. A _real_ family.” One of her hands gently cards through his hair. “You won’t have to worry as long as we’re together. And we have Jay. We’ll be okay. Okay?”


End file.
